Skyscraper
by siriusly cool48
Summary: On the outside she acted cold and tough, but on the inside Jade was hurt, confused, and scared. She was crying out, but no one could hear her. One-shot. Bade, hint of Tandre if you squint. Rated for abuse.


**A/N: Jade and Beck deserve each other. Though no one else may ever know why Beck loves her, they have gone through too much for him to not understand and care for her. Maybe this doesn't coincide with any particular episode of the show, but bear with me. This is before Wok Star, so pretend we never met Jade's dad. :) I don't own Victorious, and I certainly don't own Skyscraper by Demi Lovato, though I highly suggest you listen to it while you read this. But I do own a roll of zebra-print duct tape. Yeah.**

OOOOOOO

"I don't understand why Beck sticks with her. She really is mean to him most of the time," Tori mused. She was at Andre's house, hanging and watching movies.

"I don't know, they spend a lot of time together. Maybe he just knows Jade better than we do."

Tori gave Andre a skeptical look.

"Ok, well then I'm at a loss." Andre plopped down in a bean bag.

"Maybe she put him under some sort of spell," Tori grinned.

Andre laughed. "Seriously though, maybe she does have some good in her and we don't know it," he spoke, sobering.

Tori stretched out on Andre's couch, pondering this. "Hmm," she mumbled.

"Besides, who am I to say who a person can love?" Andre ended the conversation with a click of the remote as the television hissed to life.

OOOOOOO

Jade hooked her arm in Beck's as they walked down the street. They chatted aimlessly, wandering around and just spending time in each other's company.

Finally they ended up in front of a small studio with a sign that read "Hayworth Productions."

Beck took his arm out of Jade's and took her hand instead. "This is my stop, babe." He gave her a brief kiss on the lips.

"Oh yeah, job hunting. So what are you auditioning for this time?"

Beck shrugged. "Not a big role. I'm starting small, you know. I'll work my way up until a Hollywood agent notices me or someone passes along my name. It's not that important yet, but when we graduate I'm hoping Sikowitz can recommend me."

Jade smiled and gave him one last kiss before making her way down the street to her family's apartment on the other side of town. The West family moved to LA from Georgia to help Jade pursue acting at Hollywood Arts. They already weren't wealthy, but school tuition was high, and they had been suffering financially.

Jade was grateful that her parents were willing to uproot their lives and give up close proximity to their relatives just so she could chase her dreams, but she had never got used to this neighborhood. It was sketchy, to say the least. The people next door were always having parties and the music was loud and obnoxious. The people below them had cops sniffing out the building every once in a while.

She told herself that soon she would get her big break and move her family out of here.

Or her mom, at least. Since their move, Jade's mom had been diagnosed with an advanced stage of pancreatic cancer and everything had changed. Mrs. West never got out anymore, she usually just sat in her dark bedroom, sick from treatment and exhausted from any amount of activity. She had lost the will to live. It hurt Jade that her mother didn't even consider her own daughter a reason to keep fighting.

Jade's father had gone into depression after the diagnosis, and had turned angry and resentful, outwardly blaming Jade for their problems. Jade tried to shrug it off, knowing her father was confused and as scared as she was. But it was hard.

Jade pulled out her key and unlocked their door, stepping into the dark apartment. "Hello?" she called out. "I'm home." No answer. Jade took this as a bad sign and quietly moved into the kitchen to fix dinner for herself.

"It's about time. I hope you haven't been out with your friends, you know your mother and I need you at home," Jade's father walked into the light of the kitchen, crossing his arms menacingly.

"And what if I have?" Jade turned around to face her father, mimicking his posture.

Mr. West growled. "Just make dinner, you ungrateful brat."

Jade shook her head, mumbling under her breath.

"What was that?" Mr. West seized Jade's upper arm painfully.

"Ow! Get off me!"

"I said _what was that_!" he yelled, holding on tighter, his face inches from Jade's.

"I said you could get off your lazy ass once in a while and take care of things yourse-" her words were cut off with a slap across the cheek. Jade cried out and held her face gingerly. She mustered up all her hatred and spat in her father's face.

Yowling, he backed off, rubbing his eye. Jade bolted for her room, wishing with all her might her mother didn't have to hear this. She skidded down the hall and slammed her door behind her, listening to her father's curses and threats as he made his way down the hall.

"You're a disgusting piece of nothing, do you hear me? You're going nowhere in life! We're wasting our lives for you and you repay us by running off with your worthless friends!" He began pounding on the door, trying to get in. "Let me in, brat!" After waiting a moment for a response but receiving none, he tried a different tact. "You're the one doing this to your mother! Are you happy, bitch? You did this!" He resumed pounding, while Jade sank to the floor and was consumed with sobs.

OOOOOOO

The bell rang at Hollywood Arts High School. Sitting between Beck and Cat, Jade wore her characteristic scowl. Tori and Robbie were talking loudly in the back about some stupid nonsense, and Jade didn't care to listen in.

"My oh my," she sing-songed in a loud Southern Belle voice, "I _do_ declare that I am _soo_ interestin'."

"I do not talk like that!" Tori yelled, annoyed. But she shut up, satisfying Jade.

"Now now, class, listen up." Sikowitz began addressing the class, but Jade tuned him out. All they were doing today was watching Robbie and Andre perform a play, anyway. As she stared into space, it was all Jade could do to hold it together until class was over. She wanted school to end, yet she dreaded going home.

Lunchtime brought more misery. When she looked around at her "friends" (if you asked her, she would deny being friends with most of them), all she saw was happy people with happy lives and happy families. And she was endlessly jealous. To the point where she almost hated spending time with them. They didn't really know her, and with the exception of Beck, they didn't know what her family was like, either.

Jade decided to rejoin the conversation to appear acting normal. "Shapiro," she started, watching Robbie skeptically. "Why are you eating pizza with a knife and fork?"

"He is one strange little boy," Rex sniggered. Robbie glared at him.

"All strangeness aside, what do you guys think of coming over to my house this weekend to work on our class play?" Tori piped up. "I think you're finished with the script, right Jade?" Jade looked up, surprised to be addressed, but refusing to show it. She gave a brisk nod.

There were echoes of "Sounds good," and "I'm in," all around the table. Then Tori looked to her. "Jade?"

She feigned annoyance. "Whatever," she spat. Tori smiled, ignoring Jade's rudeness, and no one else questioned it, knowing that was how she normally acts.

Didn't they see it? Couldn't anyone tell? On the outside she acted cold and tough, but on the inside Jade was hurt, confused, and scared. She was crying out, but no one could hear her.

OOOOOOO

Jade walked into the Wests' apartment, tossing her keys onto the counter.

"What's this?" She gasped and spun around, startled. Putting a hand to her chest, she steadied herself, willing her breathing to calm down. Her dad was holding a small black-leather book, which was all too familiar to Jade.

"Oh shit." It was Jade's journal. ("It's a journal, not a diary," she would tell anyone who asked.) Inside she had written all of her thoughts of her dad, her friends, Beck. She had poured her heart into its pages.

"Oh shit is right! Are you and this actor-boy still together?" Oh yeah, and her dad hated Beck. With a passion.

"Uhh..." she fumbled.

"Are you sleeping with him, you little whore? Man, I knew we raised an ungrateful cretin, but I never took you for a tramp. Guess I was wrong about that too."

"I never did anything!" Jade cried, ashamed of what she was being accused of. She had seriously considered taking the next step with Beck, even writing so in her diary, but Beck had told her they weren't ready, that she was just hurting in other areas of her life and he didn't expect anything from her.

Jade had known she was in love with Beck right then. A true gentleman, that's what he was.

Jade wrenched the little book from her father's dirty hands, accidentally knocking him backwards in the process.

"Why you little..." The man grabbed her ankle as she turned to flee. She came down hard on her wrists. A yelp escaped her lips before her father flipped her around, pinning her to the hardwood floor. Jade screamed and tried to cover her face as her father punched her in the chest, the stomach, the face, anywhere he could reach. She felt tears streaming down her face. Getting up, he kicked her once more and stormed into his bedroom, slamming the door.

Jade, trembling, reached for her phone, which was still in her pocket. She shakily sat up and dialed the first number that came to mind.

"Hello?"

"Beck, it's me, do you think-"

Something in her voice must have scared him, because he interrupted her. "Jade? Babe? Are you okay?"

She took a steadying breath and started again. "Please come get me," was all she managed.

"I'm on my way. Hold on, Babe. Give me five minutes." Jade could hear his keys jingling and a car door slamming. They disconnected.

Jade picked up her diary, tucking it under her arm, and made her way to her bedroom to gather her few personal belongings. A picture of her and her mom, a worn, old, stuffed bear her grandpa had given her as a baby, a folder she kept her birth certificate and her passport in, and all her clothing fit into a large duffle bag that she slung over her shoulder.

Hesitating slightly, Jade made a decision. Dialing 911, she told the dispatcher her name, address, and that her father attacked her, and quickly hung up. She heard a quiet knock at the front door and flung it open, jumping into a startled Beck's arms.

"Let's go, Love." Beck took her hand and led her down the stairs, into his car, and into the night.

Jade peeked in the rear-view mirror at what was once her home. And as they drove away, she knew in her heart that she would not be returning.

OOOOOOO

"Hey, Tori! Wait up!" Andre jogged to catch up with his friend.

"What's up?" Tori greeted the boy.

"Did you hear about Jade?"

"What? No." Tori stopped in her tracks.

Andre hesitated. "Haven't you noticed she hasn't been at school? And neither has Beck?"

Tori's eyes widened. "She's not preg-"

"No, no, nothing like that. Her mom died."

Tori's face softened. "Oh no. She was sick, right? How's Jade? Have you talked to her?"

Under any normal circumstances, Andre would have found it amusing how Tori actually did care about the seemingly-misunderstood girl. But all he could manage was a weak shake of the head.

Tori thanked Andre and went off to find Jade.

OOOOOOO

Jade heard a knock on Beck's RV, causing him to groan and mumble an apology before leaving her lying on the bed, in tears. Beck swung the door open to the concerned face of Tori Vega.

"Oh. Tori. Uh, hi," he said lamely.

Tori peered inside the dark RV, appearing to look for someone. "Is Jade here?"

"Well, um-"

"It's okay, I'm here." Jade got up from where she lay on the carpeted floor, rising to meet the curious teen. She was suddenly very aware of how her hair and makeup were a mess. "What do you want, Vega?" she frowned.

"I wanted to see if you were okay. I heard about your mom, and I'm so sorry Jade."

Jade peered at the girl, trying to decide if she was being honest.

"I... need to run to the store," Beck excused himself.

Jade sighed and gestured for Tori to come inside. She sat down on the bed and offered the other girl the only chair, but she didn't speak. _Vega came here herself, let her carry the conversation._

Tori looked around nervously. "Um, well, I just wanted to come by... and see... how you were doing. I mean, can I do anything... for you?"

Why on earth was Tori being so nice? Jade was always mean to her and now she wanted to see how Jade was _doing_? "Uh, I guess so. Beck's keeping me company, so I don't need anything."

"Oh. Good." An awkward silence followed. "Well, then..." Tori stood up, assuming she was unwelcome. But as she reached the door, Jade stopped her.

"Wait, Vega. Uh, Tori." Tori's head snapped around, unused to her first name. "Thanks for coming. It means a lot." Their eyes met. And in that one brief moment, the two girls understood each other. Jade was hurting and hiding it, but was slowly going to be okay. Tori was hesitant and overly optimistic, but she would offer any help she could. They could almost be friends. Almost.

"Sure. Anytime." And with a grin, Tori walked out.

Jade sat down, feeling better than she had in days. Looking in the mirror, she grimaced at the sight that met her and grabbed a brush, tidying her appearance. She would go out tonight. And she would enjoy herself. Life was too short to spend in self-pity, and even though it had shaken her until she was broken and defenseless, she would rise up as many times as it took. Because she was strong. And she would fight for her happiness.

_You can take everything I have._

_You can break everything I am._

_Like I'm made of glass,_

_Like I'm made of paper._

_Go ahead and try to tear me down,_

_I will be rising from the ground_

_Like a skyscraper._


End file.
